The arrival of Frederic Massara as Juventus’s new Chief Football Officer has not merely completed the club’s management structure — it has immediately reshaped the transfer target list. The former AC Milan and Roma director brings with him a network of relationships and a set of personal convictions about which players are best placed to thrive at the Allianz Stadium, and the market picture is already shifting to reflect his influence.
Kessié: Now More Likely Than Ever
The signing that has risen most sharply in probability following Massara’s appointment is Franck Kessié. The Ivorian midfielder was already on Juventus’s radar as a free transfer option following his departure from Al-Ahli, but Massara’s arrival transforms the dynamic entirely. It was Massara who signed Kessié for AC Milan in the first place, and the two share an exceptionally warm personal and professional relationship — one that proved decisive in convincing the midfielder to commit to the Milan project during its years of rebuilding.
That relationship gives Juventus an immediate and decisive advantage over any rival clubs who might also be circling the available midfielder. If Massara calls, Kessié listens. The deal, if the wages can be agreed, should be among the simpler ones of the summer.
Brahim Díaz: A Personal Attempt — with Theo Hernández Added to the Mix
Massara’s most ambitious play involves a direct personal approach to Real Madrid for Brahim Díaz — the player Spalletti has been obsessing over since the spring. The new Chief Football Officer knows Díaz well, having been part of the Milan operation that first brought him to Italy on loan from Real Madrid between 2019 and 2021. That familiarity with the player, his personality, and his football extends naturally to the kind of direct, relationship-based conversation that could help unlock what purely commercial negotiations have so far failed to achieve.
There is an additional dimension to the Real Madrid conversation: Massara’s pursuit of Theo Hernández. The French left-back has been the subject of enormous transfer speculation this summer, and Juventus — who need a solution on the left flank following the likely sale of Andrea Cambiaso — are understood to be interested. Massara’s personal connection to Hernández from their years together at Milan gives him the kind of direct access to a conversation that would otherwise be extremely difficult to initiate.
Zirkzee: On the List — and Personally Known to Massara
Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising name to emerge is Joshua Zirkzee, the Dutch forward currently at Manchester United. The 24-year-old had a difficult debut season in English football, but his underlying qualities — technical sophistication, intelligent movement, and an ability to link play as well as finish — have never been in serious doubt. Massara knows him personally from the period when Zirkzee was a Bologna player under the Saputo ownership structure, and maintains the kind of relationship with the player’s entourage that could open doors.
Whether a deal is financially feasible given United’s valuation of the player is another question entirely. But the fact that Massara is thinking about Zirkzee as a creative option for Juventus’s attacking rebuild is, in itself, a signal of the ambition the new football operations team intends to bring to the transfer market.
Tomori: The Defensive Wildcard
The final name on Massara’s early radar is Fikayo Tomori, the English centre-back who remains at AC Milan but whose future at the club is genuinely uncertain following a difficult season. Massara signed Tomori permanently from Chelsea during his time at Milan, and the relationship between the two remains positive. A scenario in which Milan need to raise funds from defensive sales, and in which Juventus simultaneously require further centre-back depth beyond Muharemović’s imminent arrival, could create a pathway that suits all parties. At the right price — and with a willing player — it is the kind of understated, value-driven signing that would perfectly encapsulate the Massara method.
A Different Kind of Transfer Intelligence
Taken together, Massara’s early targets reveal a man who thinks in relationships as much as in profiles — who reaches for the phone to a former pupil before he reaches for the scouting database. Kessié, Díaz, Hernández, Zirkzee, Tomori: each is a player he has either signed before or worked with directly. At a club that has spent recent years pursuing international data-driven targets that underperformed on Italian soil, the shift towards a more personally grounded, relationally intelligent approach to the transfer market represents exactly the change Carnevali and Spalletti have been waiting for.
